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Piaf, Edith

(Encyclopedia)Piaf, Edith pēäfˈ [key], 1915–63, French cabaret singer, born as Edith Giovanna Gassion. She began to sing at 15 in cafés and on the streets of Paris and was soon engaged to sing in a cabaret. F...

Primaticcio, Francesco

(Encyclopedia)Primaticcio, Francesco fränchāsˈkō prēmätētˈchō [key], 1504–70, Italian painter, called Le Primatice by the French. He was influenced by Correggio and by Michelangelo. As assistant to Giuli...

Sarraute, Nathalie

(Encyclopedia)Sarraute, Nathalie nätälēˈ särōtˈ [key], 1900–1999, French novelist, b. Ivanovo, Russia, as Natasha Tcherniak; studied at the Sorbonne and Oxford. A lawyer, she joined (1925) a Paris firm. Sh...

Vienne, town, France

(Encyclopedia)Vienne, town (1990 pop. 30,386), Isère dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm trade center with textile, metallurgical, and footwear industries. The capital of the Allobroges, Vienne (th...

Syracuse, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Syracuse sĭrˈəkyo͞os, sĕrˈ– [key], city (1990 pop. 163,860), seat of Onondaga co., central N.Y., on Onondaga Lake and the Erie Canal; settled c.1788, inc. as a city 1848. It is a port of entry...

Caffieri

(Encyclopedia)Caffieri Fr. käfyārēˈ, Ital. käf-fyāˈrē [key], French family of artists. Philippe Caffieri, 1634–1716, left Italy to enter the service of Louis XIV at the Gobelin factory. He and a son, Jacq...

Yellow Book

(Encyclopedia)Yellow Book, English illustrated quarterly published (1894–97) in book form in London. Henry Harland was literary editor, and Aubrey Beardsley, whose exotic and provocative drawings brought immediat...

Blanchot, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Blanchot, Maurice mōrēsˈ bläNshōˈ [key], 1907–2003, French novelist and literary critic. One of the first intellectuals in France to be interested in questions of language and meaning, he was ...

Webster, Margaret

(Encyclopedia)Webster, Margaret, 1905–72, American actress, producer, and director, b. New York City; daughter of Ben Webster and Dame May Whitty. Webster made her formal acting debut in 1924. After working with ...

Normandy

(Encyclopedia)Normandy nôrmäNdēˈ [key], region and former province, NW France, bordering on the English Channel. It now includes five departments—Manche, Calvados, Eure, Seine-Maritime, and Orne. Normandy is ...